OU/CU

[swok34]

I've already fired off an email telling ESPN what I think of their coverage....... http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/frown.gif and dug out my radio.

[ISUbballfan]

I haven't been paying to much attention. I've been working on ice remaoval. How bad has it been. I thought that Oklahoma and Colorado were going to be protected from th switching.

[Bob_Ballew]

Can you believe they cut away right in the middle of the action and reported on other scores and conferences?! They even touched on the mens games. Wow.

CU looked a little slow at first, but they started clicking toward the end of the half. OU is going to have to rebound better if they want to win this one.

[swok34]

OU's leading the boards right now....I think 18 to 17. Just doesn't look like their offense is flowing as it has been....
and I hope that airball shot of Dionnah's doesn't mean she's having trouble with the altitude http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

I'm going to keep the gametracker running. We were SUPPOSED to be protected here in Oklahoma, yet they cut away once.

I did notice on Pay per view that you could "buy" any of today's games EXCEPT the OU/CU game for $9.99.
So, I suspect that is the way the tourney is going to be run....
If you want to see your game in it's "entirety", best to buy pay per view.

[Bob_Ballew]

The camera was on Dionnah on an out-of-bounds play and she appeared to really be huffing and puffing. The altitude may affect them.

[Bob_Ballew]

Can you believe ESPN has cut away from the game?!!!!!!

[swok34]

OU's cut it down to 5 points with a 9-0 run, mainly due to their defense......go girls http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/ou.gif

[ISUbballfan]

swok what is going on?

[swok34]

gametracker is keeping up with this game pretty good......

Colorado leads by 5 with 2:55 left.

[swok34]

OU loses 61 - 57. I was really surprised that OU was able to hang in as close as they did.

[JohnHenry]

Ouch for OU. They came from a long way back and nearly caught up. Tough loss for Coale & Co.

Colorado/Mizzou now fighting for the driver's seat for the 4th seed now.

[swok34]

I really think if OU wins it's remaining home games vs ISU and MU and the game at OSU....they will grab the #5 seed....with tiebreakers over both Baylor and Missouri. Missouri has 2 tough games with KSU at home and a game at Colorado....OU has 2 tough games left with UT and TTU.....now, if Baylor beats Texas...all rules are blown. They have 3 road games left, though those are at OSU, @ Kansas and @ Texas A & M.

[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 02-16-2003).]

[YCN]

Just got back from the OU-CU game a few minutes ago. Congrats to CU, they played an excellent game, especially in the first half when their defense was smothering and OU was seemingly incapable of running their offense. Seems like any time an OU player tried to cut through to break CU's defense they met a wall of defensive picks set by CU, disrupting any kind of continuity that OU had.

OU really tried to force the pace from the onset of the game, but CU did a terrific job of getting back and set up on defense before OU could capitalize. After a while, it was a series of possessions where OU would rush the ball up the court only to find nothing open, then everyone would kind of set up on the perimeter and pass the ball around while waiting for someone to step up and make something happen.

At the end of the first half I literally couldn't come up with a single player for OU that stood out as playing well, but I give prime credit for that to the defense CU was playing. If they can put 2 halves of defense like that together, they will be tough for anybody to beat.

So with OU unable to get the ball inside or when they did finding constant defensive help in the middle with literally no open shots, and at the same time unable to take an outside shot without someone's hand in their face, it really looked pretty bleak as the margin crept up above 10 to 12 to 14 to 15.

OU was able to close the gap just barely by halftime, but I didn't see much hope of them getting back into the game. They proved me wrong as they ratcheted up every facet of their game in the second half, with improved offensive play following their increased focus on defense.

OU was able to force a few turnovers, but CU took very good care of the ball most of the night. Finally CU's lead gradually but very slowly shrunk, till finally below double figures. Right around that time CU hit a cold shooting spell, and while at no point during the night would I say that OU was hot, they were more consistently getting the ball in the hole.

Except for free throws. Until the latter stages of the game OU's free throw shooting was abysmal, way below 50%. About the time that OU started consistently hitting free throws, the lead shrank to 1 with about 2 minutes remaining. At that point it was literally anybody's game. Unfortunately for OU they had a couple of missed shots and turnovers down the stretch, and when it got to the point where OU was forced to foul, Linda Lappe hit 4 clutch free throws in a row. That effectively sealed OU's fate, despite some late-game heroics by Welch, Jackson and Villarroel.

Speaking of Jackson, her shot mechanics were way off in the first half, as she was pushing her shots and letting them over-rotate at her release, but she heated up late in the game. Villarroel made several stupid errors in the first half, primarily by anticipating what other players were going to do when she passed the ball.

Maria needs to understand that until all the players instinctively know what each other are going to do on any given play, then she shouldn't pass the ball to where she thinks a player will be until she actually sees that player start to make that move. I think she was getting on her teammates a few times when it was really her that was to blame.

I thought OU's post play by Schuknecht and Preston was fairly impressive, mainly on defense, where they were exceptionally tough down low. Bjorklund was never really able to get going because of their defense. And for a while the Sooners even had Jackson defending Bjorklund, and it was amazing to see how effective she could be on defense against a big true post.

Dionnah is becoming quite a player for OU. I'm not sure how many rebounds she had, but it was a significant number. I'm not sure I've ever seen any player her size that had a greater natural instinct for rebounding the basketball.

All in all, it was really a team effort for CU that won the game for them, with solid contributions from Lappe, Wirt, Scott, Fagan and Bjorklund being better than the sum of the parts.

All in all it was a very hard-fought and physical game, and CU showed that they had what it takes, especially in a tremendous defensive first half, and in the last 2 minutes of the game.

BTW, regarding the effects of altitude, CU looked like the more fatigued team at the end of the game, but I have to say that both teams are in excellent physical condition, and I don't believe that the altitude was any factor at all.


[This message has been edited by YCN (edited 02-16-2003).]